The Kirindy Mitea National Park is a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
on the coast of the
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long ...
, in south-west Madagascar. The park contains many
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
animals and plants and claims to have the greatest density of
primates
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
in the world.
Geography
The national park is situated on the south-west coast of the Mozambique Channel and includes a marine area with seven small islands.
It is situated in the
Menabe
Menabe is a Regions of Madagascar, region in western Madagascar, with its capital at Morondava. It covers an area of , and its population was 700,577 in 2018. The population mostly belongs to the Sakalava ethnic group. The region is named after th ...
Region south of
Morondava
Morondava (, from mg, morona lava "long coast") is a city located in Menabe Region, of which it is the capital, in Madagascar. It is located in the delta of the Morandava River at . Its population as of the 2018 census, was 53,510.
Population
T ...
on the territory of the municipalities of
Akiliabo,
Beharona and
Andranopasy.
It is surrounded by the
Maharivo River
The Maharivo is a river in Menabe region of western Madagascar. It originates on the Makay Massif and flows westwards into the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of t ...
and
Lampaolo River. The entrance to the park is south of Morondava
During the warm, dry season from March to November, much of the wildlife is hibernating, the vegetation is brown and the trees are leafless. Animals and plants come to life in the rainy season when temperature can reach
The dominant ethnic group in the area are the
Sakalava people
The Sakalava are an ethnic group of Madagascar. They are found on the western and northwest region of the island, in a band along the coast. The Sakalava are one of the smaller ethnic groups, constituting about 6.2 percent of the total populatio ...
.
Flora and fauna
There are a wide range of
ecosystems
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
due to reserve being in an area where southern and western